The NLC, which further petitioned the Federal Government, urged the authorities to as a matter of urgency look into the situation.
It accused the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria of irregularities in the circumstances surrounding the construction of the said estate and its eventual alleged trade-off to individuals, it claimed, were not workers.
The NLC Chairman, Ikechukwu Nwafor, who briefed journalists in Abakaliki after its members and members of the Academic Union of Universities and Trade Union Congress staged a walkout from the estate commissioning, on Thursday, alleged the housing units were meant for workers who had been contributing to the National Housing Fund.
The NLC boss also called on Governor David Umahi to put the commissioning on-hold, pending when the issue is resolved.
He said, “Ebonyi State Government has done well for the first time by donating land for the housing estate to be built for the workers. But the housing estate is supposed to be built and sold to workers and indigenes, and not non-workers and outsiders. This is very unfortunate.
“Workers from Ebonyi State have been contributing through the National Housing Fund, which is being handled by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. Some of us have contributed for well over 20 to 23 years for this housing estate project.
“Workers in Ebonyi State are not happy with what the FMBN did and it should be queried. The process should be revised to make sure that Ebonyi workers are able to access the facility.”
But in a swift reaction, the FMBN, through its Managing Director, Chukwuma Kingsley, said the allegation was baseless, stressing that the housing units were transparently allocated to people who were qualified and had made necessary payment for them.
According to him, “The allegation is not actually true because our intention was to carry everybody along. This is because workers from all the states of the federation are the direct beneficiaries of this project.”
